Stomatitis is a general term for an inflammatory disease occurring in the oral cavity mucous membrane such as the tongue, gums, lips, inside of the cheeks, and the like.
Stomatitis is thought to be caused by viruses or bacteria present within the mouth infecting the mucous membrane inside the oral cavity in areas where there has been damage by injuries from biting with teeth, hot foods, drying out of the mucous membrane, and the like. In addition, with stomatitis that occurs as a side-effect of radiation therapy or chemotherapy, the mucous membrane cells are damaged by the effect of active oxygen, and mucositis occurs. Furthermore, defense mechanisms inside the oral cavity are disrupted, and secondary infection by viruses and bacteria in the mouth occur.
Stomatitis caused by radiation therapy or chemotherapy is particularly serious, and when a complication such as sepsis occurs, mortality reaches 40-60% (The Lancet, 351, 1501-1505 (1998)). In addition, unlike stomatitis due to other causes, the patients can not take meals because of the pain, and from the standpoint of quality of life (QOL) and medical costs, this is an extremely important problem.
For the treatment of stomatitis, creams and patches of steroid medicine are known, but their effectiveness greatly varies between individuals. In health food related products, vitamins centering around the Vitamin B group, zinc, propolis, Lactobacillus bifidus, green juice, and the like are said to be somewhat effective for the treatment of stomatitis, but these do not always produce satisfactory results.
With regard to treatment of serious stomatitis caused by radiation therapy and chemotherapy, GM-CSF [European Journal of Cancer, 37 (16), 1971-1975 (2001)] and zinc-carnosine hydrochloride [Nippon acta radiologica 62 (4), 144-150 (2002)], and the like have been considered, but there are still no approved treatment medicines.